Govt aims at import timeline for advance license to 12 months

KOLKATA: The central government, which is critical of the exporting community for allowing a long gap between import and export against advance licenses, is in favour of reducing it from 18 months to 12 months.

"For the advance authorisation that DGFT grants from year 2013-14, we had brought it down from 24 months to 18 months. If we have our way, we would make this 12 months, which is good for the exporting community," Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Anup K Pujari said here today.

An advance licence is granted for the import of inputs without payment of basic customs duty. According to the current norm, the period permitted to import is 18 months and period permitted to export remains at 36 months.

"We have been criticised by the exporting community. I want to ask which bright exporter among you takes 36 months to execute an export order?" Pujari said while addressing Indian Chamber of Commerce Exim summit.

Acknowledging exporters' issues, he said one of the major concerns for exporters across the country is regarding the cost of credit.

"It is high because the interest rates in the country are on a higher side. Moreover, our industry is also facing infrastructural and procedural difficulties that we are trying to reduce now," Pujari said.